Gifted Baritone Fulfills Expectations

It’s not hype: Everything you’ve heard about much-acclaimed 31-year-old baritone Matthias Goerne is close to the truth. The German singer is as accomplished, probing and gifted an artist as his advance publicity asserts.

Sunday night in the relatively intimate Irvine Barclay Theatre in Orange County, Goerne’s first Southern California appearance--preceded by recent recital debuts in New York and San Francisco--confirmed the early promises of his young career. In 29 lieder of Schumann and Schubert--all, significantly, to poems of Heinrich Heine--the Dresden-born baritone established in person the solidity of his musical-vocal credentials.

A former student of both Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the young singer brings his own intensity and thoroughness to every item he essays. Like his mentors, he may flirt with mannerism--his standing on tippy-toes or leaning to both sides of the stage alternately can be distracting, for example--but his seriousness and artistic depth cannot be questioned.

Goerne’s attractive voice is full, resonant and unforced. He uses it to project words clearly; his enunciation is complete but not exaggerated. He employs a full range of dynamics more often than more subtle vocal colorations. That’s no problem--he has time to add to his already considerable resources.

He devoted the first half of this recital to Schumann’s “Dichterliebe” cycle, which he and pianist Graham Johnson performed passionately but with utmost clarity, carrying a rapt audience into the poet’s world compellingly. After intermission, two more Schumann groups, including both the unfamiliar--”Abends am Strand”--and the familiar--”Die Lotosblume” and “Du bist wie eine Blume”--relaxed the overall mood by a hair, before the genuine weight of the evening arrived in the Schubert group.

Here, in six lieder from “Schwanengesang,” some of the 31-year-old composer’s darkest hours were hauntingly and devastatingly surveyed by Goerne and his resourceful, sensitive partner, particularly in the final three, “Die Stadt,” “Der Doppelganger” and “Der Atlas.”

Two encores, both by Schumann, temporarily lifted the mood for a loudly approving audience: “Schone Wiege meiner Leiden” and “Widmung.”

* Matthias Goerne, with pianist Eric Schneider, sings Hanns Eisler’s “Hollywood Song Book” tonight at 8, Temple Israel, 7800 Hollywood Blvd. $15-$25. (213) 850-2000.